Just ran our first half marathon in England recently, and my wife's first half marathon EVER

Wilmslow is a mostly rural little town outside Manchester, a few hours north of London. So the course mostly runs through fields, farms, old trees overhanging the road, and a couple village pubs.

It's not terribly flat, but the hills aren't a killer. The roads are a little rough in spots; more than one runner went down when a pothole jumped up and bit them.

The weather was very warm, for those not accustomed to it. People from Florida would probably call it manageable, but for the people living here, temperatures in the low 80s, are HOT for running, and regrettably, the ambulance crews were kept busy helping runners who collapsed or otherwise dropped out...

34 World Records Set by 10-year-old Barefoot RunnerBy Madeleine Kelly, Canadian Running Magazine​

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At only 10 years old, Daniel Skandera of Santa Rosa, California has now run 35 age group international records.

Skandera holds international records from distances ranging between 600m and 5,000m, along with two American youth records over the 1,500m. Most recently, Skandera ran a 4:53.40 mile at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa to set the international mile record for 10 year-olds. The runner has become famous for running his track races barefoot.

We got very lucky with the weather. The starting line temperature was 62F and when I finished it had just hit 80F. A little humid but this is Minnesota in July so that's to be expected.

This was to be my first attempt at 50K. I'd previously only completed one road marathon unshod and had to DNF a trail marathon in the North Dakota badlands because I had yet to learn a crucial lesson about hyponatremia. More on that later.

My finishing time was around 6:40. I was hoping for about 6 1/2 hours and the course had over 4,000ft of vertical gain in it so I was more than happy with that. I had briefly considered doing the whole thing unshod but there's simply too much gravel and I'm not there yet with that. I ran the whole thing in my Luna Roots Origen sandals which performed excellently. A great deal of the course is easy dirt and grass, however. And there was one fine...

A former international marathon runner has spent 52 days running across Spain barefoot through snow and rain to raise thousands for charity and mark her 59th birthday. Julia Chi Taylor, who lived in Eastbourne for 12 years but now lives as a nomad with no permanent home, is believed to be the first person to attempt this feat. Julia set off on March 23 from Suances on the northern coast of Spain and finished on May 12 - her 59th birthday - on the Southern coastal town of Almuñécar.